The Catholic Church has apologized for its role in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide

From Quartz Africa-

In the spring of 1994, violence erupted in Rwanda after a plane carrying then president Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down. Thousands of ethnic Tutsis, a minority group who became a target after Habyarimana’s death, sought refuge in the country’s Catholic and Protestant churches.

Hutu militia surrounded the churches, shooting into the crowd, throwing grenades into the building, and killing those inside with machetes. According to witness accounts, many died at the hands of priests, nuns, and clergymen. “More Rwandese citizens died in churches and parishes than anywhere else,” the group African Rights, wrote in an account of the violence in 1995.

More than two decades later and several calls for an apology, the Catholic Church in Rwanda has apologized for its role in the genocide that claimed the lives of more than 800,000 lives, one tenth of Rwanda’s population, local representatives from the Church have apologized.


More here-


http://qz.com/842332/rwanda-finally-receives-an-apology-from-the-catholic-church-for-its-genocide-role/